Tag Archives: students

This is a guest post by Clare Milliken, a UW-Madison undergraduate majoring in journalism. She recently published a story about the Muslim student community on campus in the Isthmus newspaper.

Working as a reporter opens your eyes to the world, allowing you an intimate look into others’ lives, cultures, and experiences. Never have I appreciated this ability as much as I did writing on UW’s Muslim community.

I began my research on a December Thursday at the Muslim Students Association meeting at Memorial Union. I tried, as much as possible, to immerse myself in Muslim students’ lives, from musical tastes to prayer practices. After 20 interviews, secondary research, and my first Friday service at a local mosque, I began writing the piece in the hopes of granting other people this “reporter’s window.” Continue reading →

Despite the fact that the vast majority of Muslims do not live in Arabic-speaking countries, Arabic is still the language of Islam. As images of the prophet Muhammad are forbidden, Islam relies heavily on language to pass down ideas and stories from generation to generation. Language is, of course, open to multiple interpretations, mistranslations, and misunderstandings. For example, jihad, literally meaning “striving in the path of God,” can be understood as both an internal struggle to live a moral and virtuous life and an external struggle against injustice and oppression. But in English, unfortunately, the word is often translated to “holy war” and implies fanatical violence against non-believers of Islam. This is just one example why an in-depth knowledge of Arabic is important to both Muslims and non-Muslims.